Vallejo High grad Rashad Ross in final game with Arizona State today

Steve Rodriguez/Arizona State courtesy
Arizona State wide receiver Rashad Ross, a Vallejo High graduate, goes up for a pass against Colorado during an October game. Ross and the Sun Devils are taking on Navy today in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.

Vallejo High School graduate Rashad Ross will get a chance to put an exclamation point on his collegiate career today.

And he will get that opportunity to do it right in the backyard of his hometown.

Arizona State (7-5) will play Navy (8-4) in the Fight Hunger Bowl at AT&T Park in San Francisco. Kickoff is 1 p.m. and the game will be televised on ESPN2.

"It feels good to have my last college game be back here at home," Ross said Friday evening. "All my people get to see me play one last time."

Ross said he gave away 32 tickets to family and friends.

The 6-foot, 167-pound Ross finished with 844 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns for the Sun Devils as a wide receiver and kick returner this season. He had maybe his best game of the year in November against Washington State with eight catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns.

Ross, who transferred to Arizona State from Butte College in Oroville, had an explosive 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against Colorado and eight catches for 84 yards against Cal, a game where Bethel High graduate C.J. Anderson lined up on the other side of the field for the Bears.

Bowl games have been particularly good to Ross. Last season, he hauled in 254 receiving yards and a touchdown in the Las Vegas Bowl.

That was Dennis Erickson's last game as the Sun Devils' coach. Todd Graham took over the job this season.

"Coach Erickson was more of a player's coach; you could go up to him and talk," Ross said. "I liked playing for coach Graham too. They are both good coaches."

This has actually been a year of transition for Ross. Arizona State's quarterback his junior year was Brock Osweiler, who eventually was drafted in the second round by the Denver Broncos. This year's signal caller is redshirt sophomore Taylor Kelly, who has thrown for 2,772 yards and 25 scores.

Ross could get some looks by NFL teams in preparation for the draft in April. He has run the 40-yard dash in 4.37 seconds, according to the Arizona State web site.

"We always talk about playing at the next level," Anderson said Friday afternoon about his friend, Ross. "It's our dream to play in the NFL and we're going to try and make that come true."

Ross said he is hoping to get an invitation to the NFL combine or get scouts to take a look at him during Arizona State's "pro day."

For now, he'll concentrate on making some noise against Navy. Ross said he listened to many of the Navy players talk about football during their press conference.

"The military people are just different in the way they look at football," Ross said. "Their next step might be fighting in Afghanistan, joining the Marines or basically going to war."

Ross said he will receive his degree in criminal justice after the spring semester.

The Sun Devils have been preparing for Navy's vaunted triple-option running attack. Arizona State has contended with a variety of offenses in the Pac-12 conference. That includes the Air Raid at Washington State, the power running game at Stanford, the pro style at USC and the fast-paced option at Oregon.

"Honestly it's totally different from everything we've seen all season and my five years here," linebacker Brandon Magee said. "Their offense is really disciplined. They can get the ball to the quarterback, they can pitch it, they can hand it off to the fullback and they can also beat you deep on some passes if you fall asleep on the passing game. Very explosive offense."

Navy is sixth in the nation in rushing with 275.6 yards per game and has won seven of eight games heading into the bowl matchup against the Sun Devils.

Graham said he would have been "miserable" if this game was in the regular season and he only had a few days to prepare.

He hopes his past experiences going against triple-option teams and the extra practice before the bowl game will help his team's preparation.

The Sun Devils have gone to unusual measures in their preparation, using cornerback Robert Nelson as the scout team quarterback simulating running plays.

"The knowledge of the triple option and being able to put it on the board and being able to talk about it is one thing," Navy slotback Bo Snelson said. "But to go out and practice and have guys who have never run it before, guys who aren't as in tune to the nuances of the offense and have them run it at the speed we do, that's extremely difficult to do."

Stopping the option is simple in the abstract -- players must be disciplined enough to stay with their responsibility and not try to freelance, which can open up big running lanes.

It's appropriate that discipline is the keyword in the final game of Graham's first season as coach because that has been the key to the team's success all year.

Graham took over from Erickson and immediately set out to change the culture that led to the Sun Devils leading the nation last year in penalties per game and penalty yardage. This season Arizona State is tied for the 11th fewest penalties in the nation and is hoping for its first bowl win since 2005.

"People will meet whatever expectations you set," Graham said. "I was very fortunate because these guys embraced it. I don't yell and scream or tell them to do this and that. I put in a values system and here's the values we'll be about and here's the accountability."